Aggressive green cheek

[Bessie_B]

Hey all,

I'm new so I'm hoping I've done this correctly..

I've got a green cheek, Harry, who is nearing his second birthday. He has always shown a little aggression towards my fiancé but recently he has been vicious! He not just bites but attacks both of us sometimes for no apparent reason. He has also started this week trying to hump my hand when I hold him, which I have been stopping by putting him back in his cage whenever he starts. My question is.. Is he showing aggression because we are coming into spring time here in Australia and now that he is 2 (reaching sexual maturity) he's looking for a mate? Also, any suggestions how we can deal with this behaviour... It's very hard not to yell at him or flick him off when he is latched onto your ear, hand or throat!! I want my sweet, cuddly baby back.

[marie83]

This is typical green cheek behaviour although there are some lucky people who say they have never had the nippy phase.
This sounds a bit more than a nippy phase though tbh. Seriously you do need to ignore him when he starts, I know green cheeks can draw blood and they can hurt but they are hardly going to sever a finger. My boyfriend is a complete wuss with Ollie and always reacts, I took the time to learn his body language and never react, he bites my bf more than ever, he very rarely bites me..... It really is that important if you want to stop the behaviour.

Anyhow, what do you and your partner need to do in order to stop reacting to his bites? Stop him going on your shoulder so he cannot bite more sensitive areas? Protect the areas he bites with additional clothing? Do what you need to do to help yourselves. I also suggest you both do some training with his so he can learn more appropriate behaviours and help take his mind off of things. Train him seperately if he has a favorite person, and get the least favorite person to spend a bit extra time with him doing training or other nice stuff with him.

When he climbs on hands, reguritates for you or any other sexual behaviours remove him from you and ignore him for a short time, restrict cuddling to short head scratches if need be for a time to stop him getting over excited in the first place.

Good luck.

[Bessie_B]

Thanks for your input.

He is usually a very well trained bird with a large vocabulary and several tricks. I'm so confused as he's sitting on my lap calmly as I write this but earlier he bit my neck and broke the skin for no reason. Maybe I wasn't paying him any attention? He has only started his in the last few weeks!!

The other day he was on my shoulder and my partner got a bottle of water out of the fridge across he room, he flew straight to him and started attacking him!! He ripped a whole section of his earlobe. He wouldn't step up and bit my finger when I tried. I grabbed him around the back and put him in his cage. How can you ignore that??

[marie83]

Well I know my GCC is a ridiculous attention seeker and most of the bites I've ever recieved from him in the past is exactly because I wasn't paying him attention with the occasional bite because he didn't like what I was doing, he wanted to be put down or accidently hurt him by catching a pin etc.
I'll admit I deal with bites in a different way each time according to what the reason was for the bite but until you really know your bird and the reasons for the bite then I wouldn't go that road incase you accidently reinforce the bite because you didn't understand the reason for it. It's pretty easy to just say its for attention...

However I still stand by what I said before as the best approach regardless of why he is biting, either cover up (it wont be forever, just until he has learned that good behaviours get him attention and bad ones don't) or keep him off the areas you find it hard not to react to but definitely don't react, believe me when I say I've had some pretty nasty bites (one right under my eye) but it really is important.

I guess if you are absolutely sure he is doing it for attention then you could try picking him straight up and putting him down away from you, he will likely come straight back but just remove and ignore him for a short time then invite him back over but you really do risk reinforcing the bite if he isn't doing it for attention. Don't put him back in his cage though, the caghe should not be a punishment but a good place to be, a safehaven and somewhere he likes to be.

[liz]

When you see him coming to attack use an open flat hand palm out to deflect him. The worst thing that can happen is him crashing into your hand. But since he is flighted he won't get hurt.

It sounds like he is in season. Keep reminding yourself that he can't help the hormones and respond as such. Survive the best you can without being angree at him. This should pass in a month or two.

When Myrtle tries to feed me I usually see it coming and tell her no no and she will swallow it back.

[Eurycerus]

My senegal has been going through a hormonal period too. I have restricted nuts sure to protein level and fruit due to sugar level. I also bring her closer to the window all day for more sun and then cover her at eight so that she gets twelve hours of sleep time. It has worked wonders thus far. No more courtship of my hand. Less aggression towards me.